‘Piano Man’ Billy Joel Gives ‘Glee’ The ‘Go Ahead’ To Use His Music

August 24, 2010 3:27 PM PDT

Matthew Morrison and Neil Patrick Harris dueted to Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” on “Glee” last season, and Billy told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson that more of his illustrious catalog might make it to McKinley High.

“Have you ever seen ‘Glee’?” Shaun asked.

“Yeah,” Billy confirmed.

“Would you sign off on a ‘Glee’ episode of Billy Joel?” she continued.

A nonchalant Billy told Shaun that it’s not a question of if the McKinley High halls will echo in his “New York State of Mind,” but when.

“So, have they started the process?” Shaun asked.

“I have no idea. All I know is I said, ‘Yeah! Go ahead. Use my stuff,’” Billy revealed. “I was in a chorus when I was in high school, why not?”

The “Piano Man” performance on “Glee” garnered Neil an Emmy, but don’t expect Billy to Gleek out in person, like Britney does in the upcoming episode featuring her music.

“If they asked you to make a guest appearance on the show, would you?” Shaun asked.

“No,” Billy said definitively. “I’m just not a big TV actor type of guy, I’m a piano player.”

Billy’s unquestionable talent resonates through the big screen in his upcoming documentary, “Last Play At Shea,” which includes his 2008 closing concert before the stadium was torn down.

Shea Stadium’s first concert was The Beatles in 1965, and for Billy’s final number, Paul McCartney made a surprise appearance — however, it was one that almost never happened.

“I didn’t find out he was actually going to come until the very last song, that we were doing that night,” Billy said of Paul’s appearance. “All of a sudden, one of my road crew comes on the stage and whispers in my ear, ‘The eagle has landed!’”

It took Paul 11 minutes to make it from JFK airport to Shea Stadium.

“A lot of people were involved,” Billy explained. “The Secret Service, the New York Police Department, the emergency service people, I mean a ton of people wanted to make this happen.”